{"commentary":{"id":"jamieson-fausset-brown","name":"Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary","website":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamieson-Fausset-Brown_Bible_Commentary","licenseUrl":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/","licenseNotes":null,"licenseNotice":null,"englishName":"Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary","language":"eng","textDirection":"rtl","sha256":"db3d4c8b3c1f32ef9d1430a57392e02bda3a17aac1f9bbe398461de021a3cb13","availableFormats":["json"],"listOfBooksApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/books.json","listOfProfilesApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/profiles.json","numberOfBooks":66,"totalNumberOfChapters":1187,"totalNumberOfVerses":17056,"totalNumberOfProfiles":0,"languageName":"English","languageEnglishName":"English"},"book":{"id":"2TI","commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","name":"2 Timothy","commonName":"2 Timothy","introduction":"PLACE OF WRITING.--Paul, in the interval between his first and second imprisonment, after having written First Timothy from Macedonia or Corinth [BIRKS] (if we are to adopt the opinion that First Timothy was written after his first imprisonment), returned to Ephesus, as he intended, by way of Troas, where he left the books, &c. (mentioned in Ti2 4:13), with Carpus. From Ephesus he went to Crete for a short visit and returned, and then wrote to Titus. Next he went by Miletus to Corinth (Ti2 4:20), and thence to Nicopolis (Tit 3:12), whence he proceeded to Rome. From his prison there he wrote the Second Epistle to Timothy, shortly before his martyrdom. It is not certain where Timothy was at this time. Some of the internal evidences favor the view of his having been then at Ephesus; thus the salutation of Priscilla and Aquila, who generally resided there (Ti2 4:19); also that of the household of Onesiphorus, who is stated in Ti2 1:16-18 to have ministered to Paul at Ephesus, a circumstance implying his residence there. Also, the HymenÃ&brvbrus of Ti2 2:17 seems to be the same as the HymenÃ&brvbrus at Ephesus (Ti1 1:20); and probably \"Alexander the coppersmith\" (Ti2 4:14) is the same as the Alexander joined with HymenÃ&brvbrus (Ti1 1:20), and possibly the same as the Alexander put forward by the Jews to clear themselves, not to befriend Paul, at the riot in Ephesus (Act 19:33-34). The difficulty is, on this supposition, how to account for Ti2 4:12, Ti2 4:20 : if Timothy was at Ephesus, why did he need to be told that Paul had sent Tychicus to Ephesus? or that Paul had left Trophimus, himself an Ephesian (Act 21:29), sick at Miletus, which was only thirty miles from Ephesus? However, see on Ti2 4:12; Ti2 4:20. Troas lay on the road to Rome from either Ephesus or Pontus, so that Ti2 4:13 will accord with the theory of either Ephesus or any other place in the northwest of Asia Minor, being Timothy's place of sojourn at the time. Probably, he had the general superintendence of the Pauline churches in Asia Minor, in accordance with his mission combining the office of evangelist, or itinerant missionary, with that of presiding overseer. Ephesus was probably his headquarters.\n\nTIME OF WRITING.--(1) Paul's first imprisonment, described in Act 28:17-31, was much milder than that in which he was when writing Second Timothy. In the former, he had liberty to lodge in his own hired house, and to receive all comers, guarded only by a single soldier; in the latter, he was so closely confined that Onesiphorus with difficulty found him; he was chained, his friends had forsaken him, and he had narrowly escaped sentence of execution from the Roman emperor. Medieval legends represent the Mamertine prison, or Tullianum, as the scene of his incarceration with Peter. But this is irreconcilable with the fact of Onesiphorus, Linus, Pudens, &c., having access to him. He was probably under military custody, as in his former imprisonment, though of a severer kind (Ti2 1:16-18; Ti2 2:9; Ti2 4:6-8, Ti2 4:16-17). (2) The visit to Troas (Ti2 4:13) can hardly have been that mentioned in Act 20:5-7, the last before his first imprisonment; for, if it were, the interval between that visit and the first imprisonment would be seven or eight years, a period most unlikely for him to have allowed to pass without sending for his cloak and parchments, when they might have been of service to him in the interim. (3) Paul's leaving Trophimus sick at Miletus (Ti2 4:20), could not have been on the occasion mentioned in Act 20:15; for, subsequent to that, Trophimus was with Paul in Jerusalem (Act 21:29). (4) The words (Ti2 4:20), \"Erastus abode at Corinth,\" imply that Paul had shortly before been at Corinth, where he left Erastus. But before his first imprisonment, Paul had not been at Corinth for several years; and in the interval Timothy had been with him, so that Timothy did not need at a later period to be told about that visit (Act 20:2, Act 20:4). For all these reasons the imprisonment, during which he wrote Second Timothy, is shown to be his second imprisonment. Moreover, Heb 13:23-24, represents the writer (who was probably Paul) as in Italy, and at liberty. So CLEMENT OF ROME [First Epistle to the Corinthians, 1.5], the disciple of Paul, explicitly states, \"In the east and west, Paul as a preacher instructed the whole world (that is, the Roman empire) in righteousness, and having gone to the extremity of the west, and having borne witness before the rulers (of Rome), he so was removed from the world.\" This plainly implies that he fulfilled his design (Rom 15:24-28) of a missionary journey into Spain. The canon of the New Testament, compiled about A.D. 170 (called MURATORI'S Canon), also mentions \"the journey of Paul from Rome to Spain.\" See ROUTH [Sacred Fragments, vol. 4, p. 1-12].\n\nHis martyrdom is universally said to have occurred in Nero's reign [EUSEBIUS, Ecclesiastical History, 2.22; JEROME, On Illustrious Men]. Five years thus seem to have elapsed between the first imprisonment, A.D. 63 (Act 28:17-31), and his martyrdom, June A.D. 68, the last year of Nero's reign. He was probably arrested by the magistrates in Nicopolis (Tit 3:12) in Epirus, in the winter, on a double charge, first, of being one of the Christians who had conspired, it was alleged by Nero's partisans, to set fire to Rome, A.D. 64; secondly, of introducing a novel and unlawful religion. His friends all left him, except Luke: Demas from \"love of this present world\": the others from various causes (Ti2 4:10-11). On the first charge he seems to have been acquitted. His liberation from his first imprisonment took place in A.D. 63, the year before the great fire at Rome, which Nero made the pretext for his persecution of the Christians. Every cruelty was heaped on them; some were crucified; some were arrayed in the skins of wild beasts and hunted to death by dogs; some were wrapped in pitch-robes and set on fire by night to illuminate the circus of the Vatican and gardens of Nero, while that monster mixed among the spectators in the garb of a charioteer. But now (A.D. 67 or 68) some years had elapsed since the first excitement which followed the fire. Hence, Paul, being a Roman citizen, was treated in his trial with a greater respect for the forms of the law, and hence was acquitted (Ti2 4:17) on the first charge of having instigated the Christians to their supposed acts of incendiarism before his last departure from Rome. Alexander the coppersmith seems to have been a witness against him (Ti2 4:14). Had he been condemned on the first charge, he would probably have been burnt alive, as the preceding martyrs were, for arson. His judge was the city PrÃ&brvbrfect. CLEMENT OF ROME specifies that his trial was (not before the emperor, but) \"before the rulers.\" No advocate ventured to plead his cause, no patron appeared for him, such as under ordinary circumstances might have aided him; for instance, one of the powerful Æmilian house, under which his family possibly enjoyed clientship (Ti2 4:16-17), whence he may have taken his name Paul. The place of trial was, probably, one of the great basilicas in the Forum, two of which were called the Pauline Basilicas, from L. Æmilius Paulus, who had built one and restored the other. He was remanded for the second stage of his trial. He did not expect this to come on until the following \"winter\" (Ti2 4:21), whereas it took place about midsummer; if in Nero's reign, not later than June. In the interim Luke was his only constant companion; but one friend from Asia, Onesiphorus, had diligently sought him and visited him in prison, undeterred by the danger. Linus, too, the future bishop of Rome, Pudens, the son of a senator, and Claudia, his bride, perhaps the daughter of a British king (see on Ti2 4:21), were among his visitors; and Tychicus, before he was sent by Paul to Ephesus (Ti2 4:12; perhaps bearing with him this Epistle).\n\nOBJECT OF THE EPISTLE.--He was anxious to see his disciple Timothy, before his death, and that Timothy should bring Mark with him (Ti2 1:4; Ti2 4:9, Ti2 4:11, Ti2 4:21). But feeling how uncertain it was whether Timothy should arrive in time, he felt it necessary, also, to give him by letter a last warning as to the heresies, the germs of which were then being scattered in the Churches. Hence he writes a series of exhortations to faithfulness, and zeal for sound doctrine, and patience amidst trials: a charge which Timothy seems to have needed, if we are to judge from the apostle's earnestness in urging him to boldness in Christ's cause, as though Paul thought he saw in him some signs of constitutional timidity (Ti2 2:2-8; Ti2 4:1-5; Ti1 5:22-23).\n\nPAUL'S DEATH.--DIOYSIUS, bishop of Corinth (quoted in EUSEBIUS [Ecclesiastical History, 2.25]) about A.D. 170, is the earliest authority for the tradition that Peter suffered martyrdom at Rome \"about the same time\" as Paul, after having labored for some time there. He calls Peter and Paul \"the founders of the Corinthian and Roman Churches.\" The Roman presbyter, CAIUS (about A.D. 200), mentions the tradition that Peter suffered martyrdom in the Vatican. But (1) Peter's work was among the Jews (Gal 2:9), whereas Rome was a Gentile Church (Rom 1:13. Moreover, (2) the First Epistle of Peter (Pe1 1:1; Pe1 5:13) represents him as laboring in Babylon in Mesopotamia. (3) The silence concerning Peter of Paul's Epistles written in Rome, negatives the tradition of his having founded, or labored long at Rome; though it is possible he may have endured martyrdom there. His martyrdom, certainly, was not, as JEROME says, \"on the same day\" with that of Paul, else Paul would have mentioned Peter's being at Rome in Ti2 4:11. The legend says that Peter, through fear, was fleeing from Rome at early dawn by the Appian Way, when he met our Lord, and falling at His feet, asked, Lord, whither goest thou? to which the Lord replied, I go again to be crucified. The disciple returned penitent and ashamed, and was martyred. The Church of Domine quo vadis, on the Appian Way, commemorates the supposed fact. Paul, according to CAIUS (quoted in EUSEBIUS [Ecclesiastical History, 2.25]), suffered martyrdom on the Ostian Way. So also JEROME, who gives the date, the fourteenth year of Nero. It was common to send prisoners, whose death might attract too much notice at Rome, to some distance from the city, under a military escort, for execution; hence the soldier's sword, not the executioner's axe, was the instrument of his decapitation [OROSIUS, The Seven Books of History against the Pagans, 7.7]. Paul appears, from Phi. 1:12-30, to have had his partisans even in the palace, and certainly must have exercised such an influence as would excite sympathy in his behalf, to avoid which the execution was ordered outside the city. Compare TACITUS [Histories, 4.11]. The Basilica of St. Paul, first built by Constantine, now stands outside Rome on the road to Ostia: before the Reformation it was under the protection of the kings of England, and the emblem of the order of the Garter is still to be seen among its decorations. The traditional spot of the martyrdom is the Tre Fontane, not far from the Basilica [CONYBEARE and HOWSON]. \n\n\n\nNext: 2 Timothy Chapter 1\n\n","order":55,"numberOfChapters":4,"sha256":"d5a4abe17050173434b3cd338faf720094aa0d873fca4158da6eb7c0e75c7208","firstChapterNumber":1,"firstChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/2TI/1.json","firstChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"2TI","chapter":1},"lastChapterNumber":4,"lastChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/2TI/4.json","lastChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"2TI","chapter":4},"totalNumberOfVerses":79},"chapter":{"number":3,"content":[{"type":"verse","number":2,"content":["men--in the professing Church. Compare the catalogue, Rom 1:29, &c., where much the same sins are attributed to heathen men; it shall be a relapse into virtual heathendom, with all its beast-like propensities, whence the symbol of it is \"a beast\" (Rev 13:1, Rev 13:11-12, &c.; Rev 17:3, Rev 17:8, Rev 17:11). \n\ncovetous--Translate, \"money-loving,\" a distinct Greek word from that for \"covetous\" (see on Col 3:5). The cognate Greek substantive (Ti1 6:10) is so translated, \"the love of money is a (Greek, not 'the') root of all evil.\" \n\nboasters--empty boasters [ALFORD]; boasting of having what they have not. \n\nproud--overweening: literally, showing themselves above their fellows. \n\nblasphemous--rather, \"evil-speakers,\" revilers. \n\ndisobedient to parents--The character of the times is even to be gathered especially from the manners of the young [BENGEL]. \n\nunthankful--The obligation to gratitude is next to that of obedience to parents. \n\nunholy--irreligious [ALFORD]; inobservant of the offices of piety.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":3,"content":["truce-breakers--rather as the Greek is translated in Rom 1:31, \"implacable.\" \n\nfalse accusers--slanderers (Ti1 3:11; Tit 2:3). \n\nincontinent, fierce--at once both soft and hard: incontinently indulging themselves, and inhuman to others. \n\ndespisers, &c.--\"no lovers of good\" [ALFORD]; the opposite of \"a lover of good\" (Tit 1:8).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":4,"content":["heady--precipitate in action and in passion. \n\nhigh-minded--literally, \"puffed up\" with pride, as with smoke blinding them. \n\nlovers of pleasure . . . God--Love of pleasure destroys the love and sense of God.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":5,"content":["form--outward semblance. \n\ngodliness--piety. \n\ndenying--rather as Greek, \"having denied,\" that is, renounced. \n\nthe power--the living, regenerating, sanctifying influence of it. \n\nturn away--implying that some of such characters, forerunners of the last days, were already in the Church.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":6,"content":["of this sort--Greek, \"of these,\" such as were described (Ti2 3:5). \n\ncreep into--stealthily. \n\nladen with sins-- (Isa 1:4); applying to the \"silly women\" whose consciences are burdened with sins, and so are a ready prey to the false teachers who promise ease of conscience if they will follow them. A bad conscience leads easily to shipwreck of faith (Ti1 1:19). \n\ndivers lusts--not only animal lusts, but passion for change in doctrine and manner of teaching; the running after fashionable men and fashionable tenets, drawing them in the most opposite directions [ALFORD].\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":7,"content":["Ever learning--some new point, for mere curiosity, to the disparagement of what they seemed to know before. \n\nthe knowledge--Greek, \"the perfect knowledge\"; the only safeguard against further novelties. Gnosticism laid hold especially of the female sex [ESTIUS, 1.13.3]: so Roman Jesuitism.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":8,"content":["Now--Greek, \"But\"; it is no wonder there should be now such opponents to the truth, for their prototypes existed in ancient times [ALFORD]. \n\nJannes . . . Jambres--traditional names of the Egyptian magicians who resisted Moses (Exo 7:11, Exo 7:22), derived from \"the unwritten teaching of the Jews\" [THEODORET]. In a point so immaterial as the names, where Scripture had not recorded them, Paul takes the names which general opinion had assigned the magicians. EUSEBIUS [Preparation of the Gospel], quotes from NUMENIUS, \"Jannes and Jambres were sacred scribes (a lower order of priests in Egypt) skilled in magic.\" HILLER interprets \"Jannes\" from the Abyssinian language a trickster, and \"Jambres\" a juggler\" (Act 13:8). \n\nresist--\"withstand,\" as before. They did so by trying to rival Moses' miracles. So the false teachers shall exhibit lying wonders in the last days (Mat 24:24; Th2 2:9; Rev 13:14-15). \n\nreprobate--incapable of testing the truth (Rom 1:28) [BENGEL]. ALFORD takes passively, \"not abiding the test\"; rejected on being tested (Jer 6:30).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":9,"content":["they shall proceed no further--Though for a time (Ti2 2:16) \"they shall advance or proceed (English Version, 'increase') unto more ungodliness,\" yet there is a final limit beyond which they shall not be able to \"proceed further\" (Job 38:11; Rev 11:7, Rev 11:11). They themselves shall \"wax worse and worse\" (Ti2 3:13), but they shall at last be for ever prevented from seducing others. \"Often malice proceeds deeper down, when it cannot extend itself\" [BENGEL]. \n\ntheir folly--literally, \"dementation\": wise though they think themselves. \n\nshall be manifest--Greek, \"shall be brought forth from concealment into open day\" [BENGEL], (Co1 4:5). \n\nas theirs . . . was--as that of those magicians was, when not only could they no longer try to rival Moses in sending boils, but the boils fell upon themselves: so as to the lice (Exo 8:18; Exo 9:11).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":10,"content":["fully known--literally, \"fully followed up\" and traced; namely, with a view to following me as thy pattern, so far as I follow Christ; the same Greek as in Luk 1:3, \"having had perfect understanding of all things.\" His pious mother Eunice and grandmother Lois would recommend him to study fully Paul's Christian course as a pattern. He had not been yet the companion of Paul at the time of the apostle's persecutions in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra (Act 13:50; Act 14:5, Act 14:19), but is first mentioned as such Act 16:1-3. However, he was \"a disciple\" already, when introduced to us in Act 16:1-3; and as Paul calls him \"my own son in the faith,\" he must have been converted by the apostle previously; perhaps in the visit to those parts three years before. Hence arose Timothy's knowledge of Paul's persecutions, which were the common talk of the churches in those regions about the time of his conversion. The incidental allusion to them here forms an undesigned coincidence between the history and the Epistle, indicating genuineness [PALEY, HorÃ&brvbr PaulinÃ&brvbr]. A forger of Epistles from the Acts would never allude to Timothy's knowledge of persecutions, when that knowledge is not expressly mentioned in the history, but is only arrived at by indirect inference; also the omission of Derbe here, in the Epistle, is in minute accordance with the fact that in Derbe no persecution is mentioned in the history, though Derbe and Lystra are commonly mentioned together. The reason why he mentions his persecutions before Timothy became his companion, and not those subsequent, was because Timothy was familiar with the latter as an eye-witness and Paul needed not to remind him of them, but the former Timothy had traced up by seeking the information from others, especially as the date and scene of them was the date and scene of his own conversion. \n\ndoctrine--\"teaching.\" \n\nmanner of life--\"conduct,\" \"behavior.\" \n\npurpose--The Greek is elsewhere usually used of God's \"purpose.\" But here, as in Act 11:23, of Paul's determined \"purpose of heart in cleaving unto the Lord.\" My set aim, or resolution, in my apostolic function, and in every action is, not my selfish gain, but the glory of God in Christ. \n\nlong-suffering--towards my adversaries, and the false teachers; towards brethren in bearing their infirmities; towards the unconverted, and the lapsed when penitent (Ti2 4:2; Co2 6:6; Gal 5:22; Eph 4:2; Col 3:12). \n\ncharity--love to all men. \n\npatience--\"endurance\"; patient continuance in well-doing amidst adversities (Ti2 3:11; Rom 2:7).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":11,"content":["afflictions--\"sufferings.\" \n\nwhich--Greek, \"such as.\" \n\nin Antioch--of Pisidia (Act 13:14, Act 13:50-51). \n\nIconium-- (Act 14:1-5). \n\nLystra-- (Act 14:6, Act 14:19). \n\nwhat--How grievous. \n\nout of . . . all . . . Lord delivered me-- (Ti2 4:17; Psa 34:17; Co2 1:10). An encouragement to Timothy not to fear persecutions.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":12,"content":["Yea, and--an additional consideration for Timothy: if he wishes to live godly in Christ, he must make up his mind to encounter persecution. \n\nthat will, &c.--Greek, \"all whose will is to live,\" &c. So far should persecution be from being a stumbling-block to Timothy, he should consider it a mark of the pious. So the same Greek is used of the same thing, Luk 14:28, Luk 14:33, \"intending (Greek, 'wishing') to build a tower . . . counteth the cost.\" \n\nlive godly in Christ-- (Gal 2:20; Phi 1:21). There is no godliness (Greek, \"piously\") or piety out of Christ. The world easily puts up with the mask of a religion which depends on itself, but the piety which derives its vigor directly from Christ is as odious to modern Christians as it was to the ancient Jews [BENGEL]. \n\nshall suffer persecution--and will not decline it (Gal 5:11). BISHOP PEARSON proves the divine origination of Christianity from its success being inexplicable on the supposition of its being of human origin. The nature of its doctrine was no way likely to command success: (1) it condemns all other religions, some established for ages; (2) it enjoins precepts ungrateful to flesh and blood, the mortifying of the flesh, the love of enemies, and the bearing of the cross; (3) it enforces these seemingly unreasonable precepts by promises seemingly incredible; not good things such as afford complacency to our senses, but such as cannot be obtained till after this life, and presuppose what then seemed impossible, the resurrection; (4) it predicts to its followers what would seem sure to keep most of the world from embracing it, persecutions.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":13,"content":["Reason why persecutions must be expected, and these becoming worse and worse as the end approaches. The breach between light and darkness, so far from being healed, shall be widened [ALFORD]. \n\nevil men--in contrast to the \"godly\" (Ti2 3:12). \n\nseducers--literally, \"conjurers.\" Magical arts prevailed at Ephesus (Act 19:19), and had been renounced by many Ephesians on embracing Christianity: but now when Paul was writing to Ephesus, symptoms of a return to conjuring tricks appeared: an undesigned coincidence [BURTON]. Probably sorcery will characterize the final apostasy (Rev 13:15; Rev 18:23; Rev 22:15). \n\nwax worse--literally, \"advance in the direction of worse\" (see on Ti2 3:9). Not contradictory to that verse: there the diffusion of the evil was spoken of; here its intensity [ALFORD]. \n\ndeceiving, and being deceived--He who has once begun to deceive others, is the less easily able to recover himself from error, and the more easily embraces in turn the errors of others [BENGEL].\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":14,"content":["But . . . thou--Whatever they may do. Resuming the thread begun at Ti2 3:10. \n\nlearned--from me and thy mother and grandmother (Ti2 1:5; Ti2 2:2). \n\nassured of--from Scripture (Ti2 3:15). \n\nof whom--plural, not singular, in the oldest manuscripts, \"from what teachers.\" Not only from me, but from Lois and Eunice.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":15,"content":["from a child--literally, \"from an infant.\" The tender age of the first dawn of reason is that wherein the most lasting impressions of faith may be made. \n\nholy scriptures--The Old Testament taught by his Jewish mother. An undesigned coincidence with Ti2 1:5; Act 16:1-3. \n\nable--in themselves: though through men's own fault they often do not in fact make men savingly alive. \n\nwise unto salvation--that is, wise unto the attainment of salvation. Contrast \"folly\" (Ti2 3:9). Wise also in extending it to others. \n\nthrough faith--as the instrument of this wisdom. Each knows divine things only as far as his own experience in himself extends. He who has not faith, has not wisdom or salvation. \n\nwhich is in--that is, rests on Christ Jesus.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":16,"content":["All scripture--Greek, \"Every Scripture,\" that is, Scripture in its every part. However, English Version is sustained, though the Greek article be wanting, by the technical use of the term \"Scripture\" being so well known as not to need the article (compare Greek, Eph 3:15; Eph 2:21). The Greek is never used of writings in general, but only of the sacred Scriptures. The position of the two Greek adjectives closely united by \"and,\" forbids our taking the one as an epithet, the other as predicated and translated as ALFORD and ELLICOTT. \"Every Scripture given by inspiration of God is also profitable.\" Vulgate and the best manuscripts, favor English Version. Clearly the adjectives are so closely connected that as surely as one is a predicate, the other must be so too. ALFORD admits his translation to be harsh, though legitimate. It is better with English Version to take it in a construction legitimate, and at the same time not harsh. The Greek, \"God-inspired,\" is found nowhere else. Most of the New Testament books were written when Paul wrote this his latest Epistle: so he includes in the clause \"All Scripture is God-inspired,\" not only the Old Testament, in which alone Timothy was taught when a child (Ti2 3:15), but the New Testament books according as they were recognized in the churches which had men gifted with \"discerning of spirits,\" and so able to distinguish really inspired utterances, persons, and so their writings from spurious. Paul means, \"All Scripture is God-inspired and therefore useful\"; because we see no utility in any words or portion of it, it does not follow it is not God-inspired. It is useful, because God-inspired; not God-inspired, because useful. One reason for the article not being before the Greek, \"Scripture,\" may be that, if it had, it might be supposed that it limited the sense to the hiera grammata, \"Holy Scriptures\" (Ti2 3:15) of the Old Testament, whereas here the assertion is more general: \"all Scripture\" (compare Greek, Pe2 1:20). The translation, \"all Scripture that is God-inspired is also useful,\" would imply that there is some Scripture which is not God-inspired. But this would exclude the appropriated sense of the word \"Scripture\"; and who would need to be told that \"all divine Scripture is useful ('profitable')?\" Heb 4:13 would, in ALFORD'S view, have to be rendered, \"All naked things are also open to the eyes of Him,\" &c.: so also Ti1 4:4, which would be absurd [TREGELLES, Remarks on the Prophetic Visions of the Book of Daniel]. Knapp well defines inspiration, \"An extraordinary divine agency upon teachers while giving instruction, whether oral or written, by which they were taught how and what they should speak or write\" (compare Sa2 23:1; Act 4:25; Pe2 1:21). The inspiration gives the divine sanction to all the words of Scripture, though those words be the utterances of the individual writer, and only in special cases revealed directly by God (Co1 2:13). Inspiration is here predicated of the writings, \"all Scripture,\" not of the persons. The question is not how God has done it; it is as to the word, not the men who wrote it. What we must believe is that He has done it, and that all the sacred writings are every where inspired, though not all alike matter of special revelation: and that even the very words are stamped with divine sanction, as Jesus used them (for example in the temptation and Joh 10:34-35), for deciding all questions of doctrine and practice. There are degrees of revelation in Scripture, but not of inspiration. The sacred writers did not even always know the full significancy of their own God-inspired words (Pe1 1:10-12). Verbal inspiration does not mean mechanical dictation, but all \"Scripture is (so) inspired by God,\" that everything in it, its narratives, prophecies, citations, the whole--ideas, phrases, and words--are such as He saw fit to be there. The present condition of the text is no ground for concluding against the original text being inspired, but is a reason why we should use all critical diligence to restore the original inspired text. Again, inspiration may be accompanied by revelation or not, but it is as much needed for writing known doctrines or facts authoritatively, as for communicating new truths [TREGELLES]. The omission here of the substantive verb is,' I think, designed to mark that, not only the Scripture then existing, but what was still to be written till the canon should be completed, is included as God-inspired. The Old Testament law was the schoolmaster to bring us to Christ; so it is appropriately said to be \"able to make wise unto salvation through faith in Jesus Christ\": the term wisdom being appropriated to a knowledge of the relations between the Old and New Testaments, and opposed to the pretended wisdom of the false teachers (Ti1 1:7-8). \n\ndoctrine--Greek, \"teaching,\" that is, teaching the ignorant dogmatic truths which they cannot otherwise know. He so uses the Old Testament, Rom 1:17. \n\nreproof--\"refutation,\" convicting the erring of their error. Including polemical divinity. As an example of this use of the Old Testament, compare Gal 3:6, Gal 3:13, Gal 3:16. \"Doctrine and reproof\" comprehend the speculative parts of divinity. Next follow the practical: Scripture is profitable for: (1) correction (Greek, \"setting one right\"; compare an example, Co1 10:1-10) and instruction (Greek, \"disciplining,\" as a father does his child, see on Ti2 2:25; Eph 6:4; Heb 12:5, Heb 12:11, or \"training\" by instruction, warning, example, kindnesses, promises, and chastisements; compare an example, Co1 5:13). Thus the whole science of theology is complete in Scripture. Since Paul is speaking of Scripture in general and in the notion of it, the only general reason why, in order to perfecting the godly (Ti2 3:17), it should extend to every department of revealed truth, must be that it was intended to be the complete and sufficient rule in all things touching perfection. See Article VI, Common Prayer Book. \n\nin--Greek, \"instruction which is in righteousness,\" as contrasted with the \"instruction\" in worldly rudiments (Col 2:20, Col 2:22).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":17,"content":["man of God--(See on Ti1 6:11). \n\nperfect, throughly furnished--Greek, \"thoroughly perfected,\" and so \"perfect.\" The man of God is perfectly accoutred out of Scripture for his work, whether he be a minister (compare Ti2 4:2 with Ti2 3:16) or a spiritual layman. No oral tradition is needed to be added.\n\n\n\n\nNext: 2 Timothy Chapter 4\n\n"]}],"introduction":"COMING EVIL DAYS: SIGNS OF EVIL ALREADY: CONTRAST IN THE DOCTRINE AND LIFE OF PAUL, WHICH TIMOTHY SHOULD FOLLOW IN ACCORDANCE WITH HIS EARLY TRAINING IN SCRIPTURE. (2Ti. 3:1-17)\n\nalso--Greek, \"but.\" \n\nlast days--preceding Christ's second coming (Pe2 3:3; Jde 1:18). \"The latter times,\" Ti1 4:1, refer to a period not so remote as \"the last days,\" namely, the long days of papal and Greek anti-Christianity. \n\nperilous--literally, \"difficult times,\" in which it is difficult to know what is to be done: \"grievous times.\" \n\nshall come--Greek, \"shall be imminent\"; \"shall come unexpectedly\" [BENGEL].\n\n"},"thisChapterLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/2TI/3.json","thisChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"2TI","chapter":3},"nextChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/2TI/4.json","nextChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"2TI","chapter":4},"previousChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/2TI/2.json","previousChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"2TI","chapter":2},"numberOfVerses":16}